RIT Graduate Student Joins Drive to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Matthew Stepp awarded fellowship at the National Academies

Matthew Stepp, a second-year graduate student in science, technology and public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, has been awarded the Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Fellowship from the National Academies.

Stepp will serve as a research assistant with the National Academies Transportation Research Board from January to April. His duties will include helping to develop a report on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from light duty vehicles. He will also attend the board’s annual national conference in January.

A native of Philadelphia, Stepp earned his bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. He is currently working on his master’s degree and is conducting research on sustainable transportation and climate change with RIT professor James Winebrake.

“I am really excited about this opportunity,” Stepp says. “It will give me a chance to further my education while hopefully helping to make a real difference in climate change policy.”

“Matt is an excellent student and researcher who has provided tremendous value to our research efforts. He will be a major asset at the Transportation Research Board,” states Winebrake, who chairs RIT’s Department of Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy and co-directs the RIT Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making, where Stepp holds a research assistantship.

The Transportation Research Board conducts research in a wide variety of transit related fields and provides expert advice to Congress and the President in the areas of traffic safety, environmental quality and technology development.

The Christine Mirzayan fellowship program is designed to engage graduate students in the analytical process of public policy making with a scientific angle. It is part of the policy and global affairs division at the National Academies.